About J-45's... To those of you who have the L.R. Baggs pick-up in it. I wanna know...

[Bert plays a SG?]

To J-45 owners... Overall, are you satisfied with your L.R. Baggs pick-up?

 

Have you replaced it?

 

Would you have bought one without any pick-up instead?

 

I'm trying to set my mind.

 

Thanks!

[elantric]

Which Model?

 

http://www.lrbaggs.com/html/products/products_pickups.shtml

 

I like the M1 , its remove-able too.

[Taylor Player]

Buy one without a pickup and then have a K & K mini Western installed. All total under $200 (install and pickup). They are the most natural sounding and nicest pickup I have ever used. I have one in my Gibson AJ and love it! It is a passive pickup but has more output than any other passive on the market. I do run mine through a LR Baggs PARA DI preamp sometimes but just plugged into my Genz Benz Shenendoah 200 Stereo amp sounds awesome as well.

[asmith9509]

I have the Baggs Element in my 2008 J45 modern classic. I like it, but after playing around I do think that the under-saddle transducer robs a small amount of tone (see my other post). I will probably pull it out and switch to the K&K or the Baggs I-beam. Nonetheless, the guitar sounded killer when I bought it, but plugged in and unplugged. I'm just messing around with the last 5%.

[dwolf]

I've got the Baggs in my Hummingbird 12 string. It's a nice pickup. I run it through a Fishman Aura unit, and it sounds great. The Aura really has helped all the undersaddle systems I've used. I can usually dial in a credible sound from any undersaddle with that unit, but the Baggs seemed to have a pretty good sound even straight to the board. Not great, but no UST in my mind sounds great without some processing. I have heard good things about the K&K. I only have one dual system- a Fishman Prefix, and I could never get the internal mic to work at anything approaching real world stage volume without fighting feedback. I think the K&K is probably a better design.

[Jinder]

My Bird sounds great with the Baggs stock pickup, but both my bandmates have J45s (RW and Hog) and neither is happy, particularly, with the way the Element reflects their unplugged sound. The Hog 45 sounds rather thin plugged in, and the RW a bit rubbery unless the strings are brand new.

 

My suggestion is to buy the guitar, try it out with the stock pickup and if you like it then keep it in, but if not, whip it out and put a K&K or similar in there, along with a bone saddle. It's an easy job for either yourself or a luthier.